Conventionally, circuits on central office switches are tested using a laptop or other simple computing device. This is done by making an IP connection directly into the central office switch, or other telecom device, intended for testing. FIG. 7 shows a process diagram embodying such a process. Referring the prior art figure, we see that a technician (user) 802 makes an IP connection into a central office telecom switch 804. Telecom switch 804 is normally accessed by making a telnet connection with it. The port access on a telecom switch is typically port 23 which is the default telnet port. Once the user has been logged into switch 804, the prior art process is accomplished using ProComm or some other telnet emulator that has the ability to send a telnet break.
Once the switch has been accessed, the user is able to bring up the IP address of the switch. The user then logs into the device 804 and runs the desired diagnostics tests for the particular B1 line being tested. Such diagnostics might include card diagnostics, noise tests, and other types of diagnostics which can be run over the switch 804.
This prior art arrangements has its limitations. First of all, it takes a lot of time to run the test, sometimes 5–6 seconds on average. This may not seem like a lot of time to wait, but in a process of running hundreds, even thousands of tests this amount of time can add up significantly.
Besides wasting time, another disadvantage in using the prior art arrangement shown in FIG. 7 is that it is not very user friendly. The user usually has to travel to the location of the switch to run the test.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an automated method of testing telecommunication switches which does not have the disadvantages mentioned above.